I have listened to the music a few times now and I really have to congratulate Gordy on picking some of the finest music from the already existing Indy score, and changing them in such a way to get a new piece of music closely resembling the good old stuff, making them very recognizable!

Hello All - As promised I've posted my original score for Staff of Kings on my website. There are two ways to listen: short clips of my favorite moments, and full length tracks. The full length tracks should be easily downloadable and drop right in to iTunes with all appropriate metadata (in theory). Here's the link. Hope you all enjoy!

The music is a lot more impressive when the stuff composed for the game is compared with only stuff composed for the game. It keeps a far more consistent recording style and is just more coherent as a whole.

Plus, it's always a lot different to just listen to the music than do so while trying not to punch your TV.

Also, for the game's music sounding overall like old music - not trying to be overly critical here - songs like Magnus' theme, which is seems pretty darn inspired by Last Crusade's "Belly of the Steel Beast," adds to that illusion.

First off, a great big thanks to Gordy (and LucasArts) for making the music available!

In a painfully realistic sketch from BBC's comedy "That Mitchell and Webb Look", Robert Webb portrays a film mogul asking a writer to alter a script. He offers concrete suggestions (add a scene, change a character, add a plot twist), then follows up with "well, not exactly that... but, well, yes, that.", eviscerating the entire script and producing typical Hollywood pablum.

While I have no evidence that a similar conversation took place, one can imagine someone at LucasArts outlining requirements to composer Gordy Haab for new musical tracks for the new Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings game. "Make them just like William's best tracks from the films, but, well, different. So just like 'Desert Chase' and 'Belly of the Steel Beast' and 'Slave Children's Crusade'. In fact, here's a list of the tracks we like. But we want new tracks, so not just like them. But, well, yes, just like these." One therefore shouldn't fault Haab for staying close to John Williams' work - he was almost certainly handed a palette and told to paint... and practically given a paint-by-numbers sheet follow. Almost every track is a very recognizable adaptation of one or more of the themes from the films. This makes perfect sense when considering that the tracks will be mixed in with Williams' original film scores for certain scenes in the game, and the desire is to retain a consistent theme within each scene. It could have been a disaster.

That's the down side. The up side, however, is that we are all fans of
the original scores, and this is a chance to revel in familiar themes in distinctly new clothing. Within those constraints, Haab did a masterful job. As was mentioned earlier in this forum thread, it is possible to mistake any of the tracks for Williams' work, and while this doesn't highlight the composer's unique strengths and inspirations, it does show his skill, care and attention to the task at hand.

Most of the tracks are clearly adapted from favorites - old and new - from the film scores. Here's my list of noticed correlations:

Confession: I haven't played the game. However, it is easy to imagine the eponymous beast lumbering around to comedic effect in "Elephant Chase", echoing the themes of a young Indy aboard the circus train. Everyone loves "Steel Beast" so the "Magnus Theme" is something to sink into like a comfortable pair of shoes, and you know there is a mean Nazi and some heavy machinery trying to squash our intrepid hero when that track plays. And even Crystal Skull gets a nod, with one of the most distinct and creepy tracks.

In every case, Haab's tracks feel like a fresh return to the Williams original. This should please many music fans, who snatch up "lost" recordings by famous artists, wait for remastered editions, and lament when their favorite band suddenly gets a "new sound".

Not on my list above, "Fight in Panama" contains a few notes of the "Raiders March" theme (just enough to avoid stepping on toes, I guess), and IMHO is the most unique track. I am reminded of the adventurous and jazzy theme to the 1960's cartoon "Johnny Quest" by Hoyt Curtin.

Is it a unique theme like Clint Bajakian's work on Emperor's Tomb, or a radical re-imagining of the original scores? No, but those weren't part of the goal. Judged on the merits of the project itself - an homage to the beloved, exciting and familiar without straying too far at all - it succeeds well.

By the way, are you going to offer the music as a "Complete Soundtrack"-download? Or just a few short samples? I mean, if you don't have a chance to publish it on a CD that can be bought, you might just as well put up the whole thing in CD-quality... I know I would be extremely grateful

I'm working on it. May have been a bandwidth issue. I'll keep everyone posted.

I got it! Thank you Gordy! Now I can both access to your site and to the "download link"... Thank you so much!

I must say the score is really impressive! My compliments to you, Maestro Haab!

Allow me to express my impressions about it.

I honestly prefere your score (SOK score) to the Clint Bajakian work for Emperor's tomb (ET score)... I find SOK score's musical moments and themes (for instance the "Sea Bed Chase" motif) more catchy than ET score's and I find that the whole SOK soundtrack is in perfect sintony with the tune and the athmosphere created by the scores of John Williams for the first three Indy movies.

I find, though, that in certain moments (a lot of moments, to be sincere) SOK score resembles too much certain pieces of John Williams' scores: almost every track could be easily seen as a re-arrangement of many tracks of the classic trilogy soundtracks (I've notice, but maybe I'm mistaking, certain echoes of the "Forest battle" from Empire Strikes Back in the "Elephant Chase" theme). Obviously for a John Williams (and Indy) fan like me that is not a great imperfection, and could also be seen as a great quality of the score, but as a "listener" I find that that is a little lack of originality. I believe though, that such a choice was determined not by the will and the pure intention of the composer Gordy Haab, but by the directives of Lucasarts.

Of course all another matter are the hommages that Haab pays to John Williams, for instance the "Nazi battle" opening that recalls the nazi theme in Last crusade. Such an amusement and a grace to hear! I find that such citations from the movie soundtracks help to create continuity between the original big-screen saga and the games. I personally find that such an intense link was missing in Bajakian's ET score.

Anyway there are moments in the score in which the Author's own creative fantasy expresses at its maximum levels, and that's when the listener can really enjoy the pure joy (pardon the pun) of the experience of listening this score: some example? The tuba part and the cue of the "Elephant chase" track and the already remembered motif for the "Sea Bed Chase" (even if obviously inspired by the "Scherzo For Motorcycle and Orchestra" it has a good sprint and a Indyish touch of its own!).

Not to mention the incredible orchestration and arrangement work... maybe that is the point that really makes the differences between SOK score and ET score... I really adore Gordy's orchestrations, they're much more defined and clear than Bajakian's, in my humble opinion. Bajakian's orchestration seems sometimes undecided and uncertain... not so complete and effective than Gordy's. It's like listening the Pictures of an Exposition of Mussorgsky orchestrated by Ravel and than listening to the same work orchestrated by other musicians: Ravel's job beats them all! [of course Bajakian's done a great work, I'm not criticizing it, I'm just saying that I prefere Gordy's].

I have not played SOK game, cause I haven't got any console, but I'm pretty sure that I would really loved that the soundtrack was entirely composed by Gordy, instead of having as a score the tracks of the movies soundtracks.

The only thing that misses in SOK score (but I imagine that is a precise choice of the producers of the games, since that's what lacked even ET and IM scores) are some catchy melodic themes (such the Grail/Ark/Fortune and Glory themes in the original movies scores, or such Marion/Nocturnal activities/Keeping Up with the Jones themes), that is what characterize Williams' music, beside.

So, concluding, my compliments to the Maestro Gordy Haab... a wonderful job. Really hope to hear his great music again in some other Indy release... Thanks!!

we need to get that website fixed!!!! I startred this thread and still havent heard the tracks!!!

I discovered today that the server is completely down and that it's being restored from backup. The last I heard was that it'd be up by the end of the day - but here we are, at the end of the day. And it's not up. I'd check tomorrow and hope for the best. Again, I'll update you guys when it's fixed.

Confession: I haven't played the game. However, it is easy to imagine the eponymous beast lumbering around to comedic effect in "Elephant Chase", echoing the themes of a young Indy aboard the circus train.

Actually the (wonderful) "Elephant Chase" reminds me more "The Basket Chase" from Raiders (the pizzicato part and the flute notes in the middle of the track), while the beginning seem inspired by "Escape From Venice" (LC). The use of the tuba (perfect for representing the animal, even if I haven't played the game neither) seems to evoke "The Forest Battle" (especially the suite) in the Empire Strikes Back Soundtrack...

I assume the rest of that hour of new music contained John Williams' themes, and that's why you couldn't post it, or is there some other reason?

the cues I posted are the cues I wrote, minus 2. The two I excluded did use the Indy theme, but also were not full orchestra, so we chose to only represent what was recorded 100% live. There was a second composer as well. The remaining 20 minutes is likely his.

The two I excluded did use the Indy theme, but also were not full orchestra, so we chose to only represent what was recorded 100% live.

Are there legal issues as well? Because if there aren't, I think we'd all like to hear those. And I think that, if no money is changing hands, and the product as you present it is not presently available in a commercial release, then it's technically still on the inside of fair-use.

Quote:

There was a second composer as well. The remaining 20 minutes is likely his.

Do you know who?

Incidentally, the Facebook thread that someone linked to indicated that in addition to Gordy's music and the other guy's music, the remaining score would be "never-before-heard" music from the Raiders/TOD period. Can anyone confirm or deny this?